The adaptation miscues by, among other things, ruining Fanny Price (Frances O’Connor) as a heroine. Fanny rarely engages the characters in her world with her sharp tongue, a classic characteristic of an Austen heroine. Instead, most of Fanny’s sage insights are delivered as narrative, almost mournful monologues as she pines over her letters, notebooks, and reflections in her drab gray room. This might be a way of including snippets of Austen’s personal journals and letters, but the effect is deadly to the pace and plot. Neither in thought, deed, or word does Fanny cut deeply. Even in the climactic confrontations, as the mishaps are righted and the true lovers united, the forceful lines that resolve things come from the mouth of another while Fanny watches passively. The thematic heartbeat that pounds out the rhythms of a woman’s struggle to maintain integrity in her romantic choices, especially in a world of social suppression, is lost in the colorless, dispirited delivery.

The main story beats are straight forward. Fanny comes from a poor family to live with her rich relations, the Bertrams, in their palatial Mansfield Park. She secretly loves -- has always loved -- her cousin (almost a brother), Edmund Bertram (Johnny Lee Miller). Edmund, though, is a second son, and despite his family’s fabulous riches, his prospects are limited, and he is encouraged to marry a woman of significant means. Fanny, who is taken in at a young age as an act of charity, is jealously despised as her sensitivity and brightness flower with her maturity. The Bertram’s stodgy, stifling milieu is stirred when in traipse the worldly, flirtatious, and wealthy brother and sister, Henry and Mary Crawford (Alessandro Nivola and Embeth Davidtz). Henry aggressively courts Fanny while Mary charms Edmund.

And so, the stage is set for the pressures that force Fanny to marry Henry rather than to declare her affections for Edmund. Uncle Bertram tosses the adult Fanny back into her poverty stricken parental home because she defies his order to marry Henry. There is no need to further elaborate the plot twists. Austen does not hold our interest with surprises, but with how the heroine gets what she wants by following her insights through the delicious intrigues. There are obviously more details to this complex relationship story because all of the people involved are shadows of their potential as they sacrifice their personal integrity to their assigned roles and amoral, if not immoral, daily grind.

The idea of slavery resonates through the film in the form of slave trading through which Sir Bertram had made his fortune. In a more subtle form, slavery appears through the class and gender distinction, and on a figurative level, slavery is depicted through characters who are so bound by their roles that they never reach a point of truly free self-expression.

We love to see a movie that develops supporting, resonating sub-themes into an overall great story, but if a sub-theme is not properly balanced, the story is sidetracked. Ironically, in a film mainly about romance and social strictures, the strongest scene depicts a revelation about the horrors of slave trading. A series of chilling drawings, made by the eldest son who does not want to continue the grisly trade, prompts Sir Bertram’s crisis of conscience and a change to tobacco as the cash source. We wonder why equally visual and emotional punches could not have added dimension and power to the romance theme.

Another example of holes in the emotional fabric of the film occurs in the depiction of the life of the Price family. Fanny’s frazzled mother and ne'er-do-well father live in filth and poverty with a brood of children who eat from a table covered with maggots. They are poor, as Mrs. Price whispers to Fanny, because she married for love. Obviously, poverty can be a grinding force. However, the Prices all look healthy, and the food served is in good portion. Poverty, therefore, is not an excuse for maggots crawling over the table. Poor people can have the dignity of a clean table, even if they are struggling. Perhaps, the message here is that marriage to a wrong person could be equally disastrous, whether it is motivated by love or by money. After all, Mrs. Price’s sister, the hapless Lady Bertram, is also unhappy in her life. Love and money shift in and out of our lives, and neither can do much for us if we are not doing the right thing with the right mate. Unfortunately, this point cannot emerge with any reality because of the shock value of disgusting images which seem mostly thrown in for their cliché association.

The acting in the film further detracted from our engagement with this story. There was little "chemistry" between Fanny and Edmund, and the wooden characterization he is given hardly inspires us to root for Fanny to finally win him. He seemed a nice enough fellow, well intended and all that, but hardly the prize of a romance story.

In the case of Mansfield Park, we might all do better by referring to Jane Austen’s original work. Her style of writing might be a bit outdated for today’s reader, but the power of her characters in their original situations generates great inspiration and amusement.